This invention relates generally to electrical connectors, and more particularly to vessel pass-through electrical connectors for use under extremely high pressures.
The use of electrical pass-through connectors for a vessel wall, which connectors taper from a large diameter on the high pressure side to a small diameter on the low pressure side, is well-known in the connector art. An example of the state of the art is shown by U.S. Pat. No. 3,491,198 to T. F. Mangels wherein a hard material plug is filled with an insulating epoxy material through which the conductors pass. Although this type of connector has proven satisfactory in underwater hull usages where pressures rarely exceed 30,000 PSI, it has been found unable to withstand the higher pressures generated in some vessels since the epoxy material will be forced out due to the large size of the opening which is filled with epoxy. This large size requires the epoxy to withstand most of the pressure and thus limits the plug strength to that of the large epoxy mass.